In most large cities, anyone caught in an emergency can dial 911 to summon help. Try that in Dallas, and you get a recording explaining that your call “cannot be completed as dialed.” Unless you know the Dallas emergency number, 744-4444, you are out of luck. Using this seven-digit number gets you a police operator who can take information over the phone and dispatch the proper authorities.
But all that will change a year from now, thanks to Allie and Annie, better known as ALI and ANI, Automatic Location Identification and Automatic Number Identification. Allie and Annie are two important new features of the E-911 emergency telephone system presently being adapted to the city of Dallas.
The city had considered a 911 system some years ago, but only a Basic-911. That number would not have brought quicker assistance to people in trouble-a shorter number is not nearly as important to emergency assistance as transferring information more quickly, which Basic-911 does not do. So. rather than change the familiar number and cause unnecessary confusion, the city decided not to go with the Basic-911.
The Enhanced-911 changed all that. Allie and Annie automatically identify the address, number, and type of phone (business, pay, or residence) of the caller in distress immediately after the call is received. Even if the panic-stricken or injured caller is unable to utter a single sound, Allie and Annie will quickly flash the pertinent information to the emergency operator receiving the call, sending help in a matter of seconds.
As an added benefit, the number of “false alarm” calls will be greatly reduced, since the calls can be traced. This is tremendously important; in a real emergency, wasted time can mean wasted lives.
Allie and Annie report to work in April 1988, when the E-911 system should be fully functional. The cost to Dallas citizens was limited by a referendum passed in 1985, which gave the go-ahead to the project as long as no more than 25 cents per month was charged to those receiving the service; the actual cost is going to be about 20 cents per month.
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